Thursday 31 May 2012 15.11 EDT
First published on Thursday 31 May 2012 15.11 EDT

David Cameron's former professor of politics is right: Jeremy Hunt should resign. He won't, of course. Just as he subcontracted the day-to-day running of the largest media bid in UK history to a 28-year-old, so Mr Hunt subcontracted the responsibility. When it came to deciding whose head should roll for the completely inappropriate back-channel behaviour over the BSkyB bid, he decided (with a heavy heart) that it should be the special adviser who resigned, not the secretary of state. On Thursday the prime minister ignored the wise advice of Vernon Bogdanor, his old Oxford tutor, and decided there was no breach of the ministerial code. So, for the time being, Mr Hunt keeps his job.

What did we learn during the culture minister's marathon performance in front of Leveson yesterday? First, that Mr Hunt was as biased in favour of News Corp's bid as Vince Cable was prejudiced against it – and that Mr Cameron knew it. Second, that Mr Hunt does not have a consistent view of due process. On the one hand he made much of his respect for the quasi-judicial aspect of his role – doing everything by the book, consulting the regulators, being totally transparent and so on. But the same Mr Hunt also ignored the advice of his lawyers and officials; had inappropriate conversations and secret contacts which were never minuted; virtually ignored opponents of the deal; couldn't see anything wrong with inviting Andy Coulson for a drink; and apparently had no idea what his young special adviser was up to or the pressures he was under in having to deal with one of the largest and most aggressive media companies in the world.

Mr Hunt's evidence on Adam Smith's dealings with News Corp was barely credible. He agreed that Mr Smith was a decent, intelligent and principled operator who knew his boss's mind on everything. At the same time Mr Hunt distanced himself from virtually every email from the 160-odd pages in which Smith apparently kept News Corp in the loop during the BSkyB bid. We were invited to believe either that Murdoch's lobbyist, Fred Michel, was a serial fabricator or that Mr Smith had repeatedly misrepresented his views.

Next we learned about Mr Hunt's remarkable naivety. He was evidently not a student of the business practices of Rupert Murdoch and went into the negotiation over the unilateral undertakings being offered by News Corp believing that this was an entirely trustworthy company whose word and governance structures could always be relied upon. He seems to have been unaware of – or discounted – police inquiries, select committee reports, civil court actions and newspaper reports until very late in the day, when it belatedly occurred to him to ask whether the phone-hacking revelations might possibly impact on the BSkyB bid. It was only at the 11th hour – after this newspaper's Milly Dowler revelations – that the penny finally dropped that the company's executives did not always tell the truth and that its governance was therefore flawed.

Of News Corp, we learned that its public story about the bid – that it had no intention to bundle together print, television and digital operations – was simply untrue. Mr Hunt's private note to Mr Cameron in November 2010 let the cat out of that particular bag. Leveson has revealed in meticulous detail how effectively and aggressively News Corp lobbies in its own interest. The judge is plainly weighing whether any politician should henceforth be placed in the position of having to make such decisions on competition or plurality.

Though he did not resign, Mr Hunt is clearly finished as culture secretary. How could he possibly deal with a wide range of news companies in future, let alone receive Lord Justice Leveson's findings, still less spearhead legislation? And so the spotlight moves to two of his colleagues. The hand of the chancellor, George Osborne, is increasingly evident in the background of this affair. Leveson must inquire into his role, and that of his advisers. And then there is the prime minister himself …